The following statement of support for Donald Trump is intended to counteract the dishonest presentation of this promising presidential candidate by much of the national media. Those who have attached their signatures to this statement are accredited scholars, mostly with Ph.D. s, who are endorsing Donald Trump as a credible candidate for the presidency and as the only barrier now standing between us and (Heaven forfend!) the election of Hillary Clinton. It is our hope that the appearance of this statement on respected websites will generate signatures from other scholars and that our statement of support can be placed in the national press. We are fully aware that signing this statement will not bring the signatory the same professional rewards as speaking at a conference on why Trump is a “fascist” or on why he reminds one of the late German Fuhrer. Expressing support for the Republican presidential candidate undoubtedly requires more courage, particularly for someone in the academic profession. But we trust that there are lots of courageous scholars who read this website and who will be eager to append their signatures to our statement.

Petition:

We the undersigned scholars hereby express our support for the presidential bid of Donald J. Trump and his agenda for a renewed America, and we invite others to join us. While we recognize that our candidate may be an imperfect vehicle, the agenda he has laid out for America is critical if our nation is to avoid continuing decline. The prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency is more dangerous than the past personal imperfections of a Donald Trump.

Contrary to what is disseminated by both the mainstream media and by certain members of the Washington/New York political establishment, supporters of the Trump agenda are by no means limited to the badly educated and ill-informed. We feature numerous academics and other professionals who share the vision of “making America great again.” We are vitally concerned about reversing the direction in which this country has been moving for decades under both Democratic and Republican administrations alike. We want to move away from harming our economically strained middle and working classes. We reject the pattern of stifling freedom of thought and speech that is being imposed by government agencies, as well as by the media and our universities in the name of an increasingly restrictive political correctness. Moreover, the Trump agenda emphasizes the importance of the rule of law in civilized society, and the necessity of law and order, and the protection of private property. The Donald Trump agenda is committed to making our borders and our streets truly safe and secure.

Finally, we see a Trump administration as an opportunity to give a new direction to American foreign policy. Neither an isolationist retrenchment nor an ideological crusade, a Trump administration will base its dealings with other nations firmly on rational American interests. Such an agenda has deep and honorable roots in American history. Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that our nation must chart a path in international relations that avoids the policy of playing policeman to the entire world or confusing statecraft with a globalist democratic agenda that supposedly fits all situations. We believe a Donald Trump administration will offer an alternative to the failed policies of recent presidents.

We invite those scholars who share this vision of a renewed America to join us in this ongoing effort. We believe this agenda to make America great again transcends political parties and is vital for our future.

Clyde Wilson, Professor of History (emeritus), University of South Carolina; Ph.D., the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Please join this growing list. Send your name and credentials to Paul Gottfried, at gottfried@etown.edu. If you are unsure whether or not you qualify as a scholar (we are looking for those with PhDs, academics, and professors, and those with medical, law, engineering, architectural and other such professional degrees, also masters’ degrees, published writers and authors) err on the side of including yourself, but give us more information about yourself. In order to do the most good, we want this list to be as large as possible, while still adhering to common definitions of “scholar.”

Yours truly,

Paul Gottfried, gottfrpe@etown.edu

Walter Block, wblock@loyno.edu

Boyd Cathey, parsifalCSA@aol.com

Conveners of this list

P.S. A note to libertarians:

Here is a word to libertarians who are supporting the LP candidate for president, Gary Johnson. This initiative of ours is aimed, solely, at the choice between Trump and Clinton. Indeed, some of the signatories of this petition support Johnson; however, at present it looks exceedingly unlikely that Johnson has even a small chance to become the next president of the U.S. Hence our focus is on the two mainstream candidates. We support Donald vis a vis Hillary. If you do, too, then please consider adding your name to our petition.

Boyd Cathey [send him mail] is the former State Registrar (now retired) of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History; his MA ( where he was a Jefferson Fellow) is from the University of Virginia; his Ph.D. is from the University of Navarra, Spain.